In this BLOG post I will teach you how to set up a Pom Pom sensory bin, the benefits of sensory play and the magical tool that will take your play to the next level!
Sensory play provides incredible opportunities to learn, explore and create through hands-on learning experiences. Sensory play is fun, engaging and can be differentiated in so many ways!
What is sensory play? It is any activity that activates your five senses: touch, taste, sight, hear and feel. Sensory Play encourages learning through curiosity, creativity, and free exploration of materials. It can be a safe way to release big energy or emotions, and it can also be so incredibly calming,
When you are engaging in sensory play activities you are not only activating these senses, but you are providing opportunities to strengthen fine motor skills, increase language and vocabulary, practice social skills such as sharing and turn taking and exposing children to important early academic skills.
My magical tool is a FRUIT JUICER...like the one you use to squeeze fresh lemon and lime into your drinks or food! The one we use is lightweight and plastic, I found it at the Dollar Tree. It is the perfect size for little hands and when paired with pom poms and water it is BRILLIANT.
Why you ask? Well, to start it teaches a child a practical life skill. Understanding how to use tools in the kitchen is an important tool to carry with you. But the skills that I am most interested in here are fine motor skills.
Fine Motor Skills strengthen the small muscles in the fingers, arms, and wrists. They are important for life skills such as cutting, feeding yourself, drawing, writing, brushing teeth, zipping up a coat, tying shoes, and so much more!
The earlier we can introduce activities to strengthen those muscles, the better! Research shows that children who have more opportunities to smoosh, squeeze, dig, pull, dump and pour have an easier transition down the road when they are asked to hold a pencil and write!
If you have a resistant writer this may be the reason! If those muscles are weak, holding a pencil and forming letters will feel HARD. It will hurt. It will be exhausting. They may understand the concept that is being asked (writing sight words, sentences, math problems etc) but the labor of writing is so overwhelming that they stop or complain or quit before they should.
This activity can HELP! Dump some Pom Poms into a bowl, cover with water and toss in the fruit juicer.
LET THEM PLAY!!
The more they squeeze and squish, the stronger those muscles will become. As those muscles become stronger, it will translate into other areas of their life such as tying shoes, zippering their coat and writing!!
Want to extend your learning and play?
Practice identifying color names! Here we used Christmas colors, but Pom Poms come in every single color, and they are perfect for introducing and reinforcing color names.
Count the Pom Poms. This can be done in many ways: call out a color and try and count those Pom Poms. Grab a pile with your hands and count how many you have. Pour them into a bowl and count how many you can fit!
Sort them. Sorting is an important early childhood skill. You can sort by color, size or texture!
Make patterns. If you are using a variety of colors, practice identifying, making and extending patterns!
This is also a fun way to incorporate imaginative play into your sensory experiences. Maybe they will make lemonade, or soup or maybe even a bowl of noodles?! Maybe it will become a swamp or a lake or the ocean?! Maybe they will ditch the juicer and scoop and squeeze and smoosh with their hands?!
The possibilities for learning and play are ENDLESS!!
Also, this is not a one-time use activity. When you are done, squeeze out the excess water and lay the Pom Poms on a towel to dry.
You get to decide what is safe and manageable in your home. Always monitor young children for safety.
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